Game Review: PURE (360)

Pure, an ATV racing game, is even more fun than the solid demo hinted it. This …

As you rev your engine, looking to the right and the left to see how many other riders are jockeying for position, you realize you have a few choices ahead of you: should you use some boost to get more speed and distance and then nail a simple trick? Try for a more advanced maneuver to add more options to your tricks for the next jump? Take a sharp right and hope some of your opponents crash on the tricky jump and move up in the ranks? To hell with it, it's time to go as fast as we can and see if our racer can finally nail a backwards flip and land on all four wheels.

The view from the top is intense, with no pop-up on a dizzying controlled descent down hundreds of feet for what you can only hope is a solid landing. Your heart races, your palms are sweaty, and this is only the first lap. Pure has reminded me how much fun Sunday gaming can be.

The demo came out of left field and entranced the racing die-hards in our gaming forum, and now that the retail version is here, we can safely say the full experience is everything we were hoping for and more. This is ATV racing by people who clearly love the sport... but aren't afraid to take things to their illogical, incredibly arcadey extremes. You'll be able to pick up the game and race decently within minutes, but as you climb up the ranks you'll realize just how much finesse is needed to keep getting those #1 slots in the races. This is a game with no rubber-banding, and if you're in first on the last lap there is plenty you can do to mess up. On the flip side, if you're in dead last, there is plenty you can do to still place well ahead of the pack. Anything can happen in Pure, and the game is one of those rare cases where you always feel like you're in control of your destiny; failure makes you curse your poor judgment, not the game or the computer.

To start, you create your own ATV from scratch, choosing from a limited amount of parts and coloring each one separately. Don't worry. Even if you don't know racing, the stats on each bit are clear and easy to read, and in a few minutes you have a vehicle that feels uniquely yours. As you race, you'll unlock more and more licensed replacement-parts to tweak your bike, and again, the selection is deep, but even arcade fans will find that it's simple to tweak each aspect of your four-wheeler's performance. More slots in your garage will open up as you go as well, and it's not out of the question to want to tweak a bike for each course, or even each type of event in each course. The options are deep for an arcade racer, but you can also have the computer set up a competitive configuration for you with the tap of a button.

The trick system, along with how you earn boost, is the perfect mix of risk and reward. You start off with only tricks mapped to the "A" button, but if you land a few of those, you unlock the "B" button tricks, and then the "Y" button tricks, and finally the double-bumper super-OMG over-the-top special moves. Of course, you can also use the energy you're building up to boost ahead of the other racers, but that then limits your trick choices. Balancing all this while in the middle of a race adds a level of depth and complexity to the title that transcends what you're used to in a title that feels like crazy. There are three types of events in the single-player mode: Races, which are just that, Sprints, which have more laps with fewer jumps and a heavier focus on cornering, and Freestyle, in which you're competing for the most points from your tricks with a finite amount of gas. There is no fat on this game: each mode is a blast to play, with its own challenges, and up to 16 players can also compete in each event online. Don't both be taking your game to the ranked Xbox Live races unless you have spent some time with the single-player though, as there is no way to make races limited to each engine type: either show up with a tricked-out bike, or be blown away. There is also no split-screen multiplayer, which is a shame.

The single-player challenge ramps up nicely, the UI is easy to navigate, and the load times are snappy on the 360. Everything about this game oozes fun and a high level of thoughtfulness to the design. It's an absolute thrill to have a game with such little buzz come out of nowhere and knock our socks off, and this is a great addition to anyone's racing library. An unpretentious title that does nearly everything right, Pure is a great surprise.